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[Mining] The effects of Prospector Tools and Gargoyle pickaxes

Basara

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This has come up a few times in conversations, so I thought I'd actually put out a guide to it. The first half of this duplicates information from other FAQs, but since some have trouble picking that info out, I'd repeat it here.

Now, for a standard mining spot, with normal tools (including sturdy tools) the following is true.

  1. Each location has a roughly 50% chance of being iron, 50% of being iron ore and a colored ore mixed. There is a chance each time a spot refills after being mined out, that it will reroll the color chance.
  2. Each spot has a predetermined (though apparently determined randomly at some point in the distant past) chance for a colored ore to appear, if the spot is currently is in a colored ore mode. Some spots appear to be less than 10% chance for colored ore per dig. Other spots (mostly in caves and dungeons) can have 70-80% color chance per dig, maybe higher. It averages out to about 40%, but you can record where you consistently get better yields and those will always be better yields no matter what ore is put out (though if the spot is currently iron, you need to use the magical tools to access colored ore)
    2.A. On top of this, Humans have a 10% chance each dig of an extra ore, while elves have a 20%*base color chance (so a 70% chance for a human is 84% for an Elf), and 20% more digs (see below).
  3. As with colored ore chance per dig, the typical number of digs at a spot stays relatively the same from reset to reset, with mines, caves, dungeons, etc. typically having double the digs per visit than mining outside (though some areas like Ilshenar count as a dungeon everywhere).
  4. When a reset determines the color of ore, there's a method to the madness.
    Valorite is 1/36 of all colored ore
    Verite is 2/36 of all colored ore
    Agapite is 3/36 of all colored ore
    Gold is 4/36 of all colored ore
    Bronze is 5/36 of all colored ore
    Copper is 6/36 of all colored ore
    Shadow Iron is 7/36 of all colored ore
    Dull Copper is 8/36 of all colored ore.
    So, the base increment is in 1/36 of the 50%, or about 1.3889% per increment. And, this is what comes into play when using the magical tools.

A Prospector Tool needs a spot to have an dig (successful or not), before its use (even a failed dig, because of being mounted, suffices). The tool is then used, once, and then you switch to a digging tool, with the effect of the PT lasting until you dig out the spot, or the spot refills. You can only elevate an ore that you can mine, so they don't start working until you hit 65 mining. So, if at 73 skill (can only mine DC and Shadow Iron), you can't raise a spot that's already copper or higher. It will tell you it's unsure of the ore, if it's too high - EXCEPT if the spot is already a Valorite spot, in which case you are told you can't elevate Valorite any further.

A Gargoyle Pickaxe only does its elevation while being the tool used to dig, with a chance of the final ore color's "ore elemental" of spawning with each dig. However, mining Dull Copper (by targeting an area that was iron-only) does not produce Dull Copper elementals (That are currently only a rare spawn in Compassion desert & Terort Skitas, and only have 2 ore instead of the usual 25). You can use a Gargoyle pick on an area already at or elevated to Valorite, to get the chance of a Valorite elemental. These also appear (from testing) to not work until you have 65 mining, but you can mine ANY spot with them, and while you might only get iron from not being able to mine that color (you have to be able to mine the pre-GPA-use color to get color from the tool's use), you can still end up with an ore elemental spawn (and 25 ore off it you're too low level to smelt or mine)

Using just ONE of the magical tools will increase a spot by 1 level, provided the skill level is right (see the rules for each above).
An Iron-only spot will allow Dull Copper to be mined, at the spot's normal colored ore chance.
Dull Copper spots produce Shadow Iron, instead.
Etc.

Using BOTH tools results in a 2 level increase. Naturally, you have to use the prospector tool on an ore you can mine, then elevate again through gargoyle pickaxe use. Until you get to 99 mining, it's quite possible to mine ore this way you can't smelt it.

COLOR ORE OUTPUT


This is where the new information really starts.

Provided you're mining randomly (assumes average yields and average color assignments for the base ore in the mined area), the following should apply if you're capable of mining all ore colors.

Original Ore TypeBase Chance to find a spot for it*Chance using one special toolChance using 2 special tools+Ore Elemental from Garg Pickaxe? (reserved for more info)
Iron50%Only from the secondary check fail*Only from the secondary check fail*No
Dull Copper11.1%50%0%No
Shadow Iron9.7%11.1%50%Yes
Copper8.3%9.7%11.1%Yes
Bronze6.9%8.3%9.7%Yes
Gold5.6%6.9%8.3%Yes
Agapite4.2%5.6%6.9%Yes
Verite2.8%4.2%5.6%Yes
Valorite1.4%4.2%**8.3%Yes


* 50% of spots start as Iron only, regardless of race. Any roll on a spot that has an active colored ore chance, produces Iron ore on a failed check per dig (elves have a x1.20 modifier for colored chance and number of digs possible). Originally. (and possibly on freeshards may still be true), use of a Gargoyle Pickaxe alone wouldn't produce Dull Copper from an Iron-only spot, but that was changed about 15 years ago (as of 2024; I just had to rebuild the pancaking table after a software change between the original post and January 2024 turned it into a mess of HTML- Basara)
** The base Valorite spots, plus the base types elevated to that level (you can't elevate Valorite further, so using both tools on a base-verite spot, or 1 tool on a Valorite spot, gets you valorite (and possible elementals from the GPA).
+ If using Gargoyle pickaxes, or after using the prospector tool when intending to do two elevations, if you want the lower ore that Gargoyle Pickaxes would elevate from, you can always opt to switch to normal tools to complete the spot. Example: The PT message tells you that it elevated a spot to Verite (from Agapite); if you decide you need Verite more than valorite, you can use normal tools to get the verite (with no chance for ore elementals).
Similarly, if you used a gargoyle pickaxe for the first dig (before using a prospector tool) and get verite (or use a normal tool and get agapite), you can also opt to skip using the prospector tool and mine with the GPAs hoping for a verite elemental (which is actually easier than most of the others, except it can destroy non-insured/blessed/cursed gear).
The downsides to either method, is that you can't undo a PT, and if you're trying deliberately to get an elemental spawn, you don't want to waste GPA uses on an iron spot (most people doing that sort of mining digs once with a regular tool, before using the PT, to save their GPA uses).

If all the spots have similar swings allowed and percentage of color per swing, the results should reflect these numbers as well, not counting any piles of ore from the elementals from the gargoyle pickaxes.
However, as spots were NOT created equal (the base ore amounts per dig (before a slight randomizer and the elf bonus) appear to have been randomized and fixed at shard creation, and the chance of colored ore per dig was also randomly generated (either at shard creation or introduction of colored metals, whichever was more recent) then permanently fixed (regardless of ore type) to where some spots might produce 5-10% colored ore, and others up to 70%, you need to optimize your mining.
Your best bet is to mark spots with both high numbers of successful digs allowed (10+ for a human, though spots that allow 20+ digs for a human exist and are extremely rare) and high color chance (where you typically come away with 40-70% colored ore). A Rune Atlas of 48 of these spots will typically produce 500-750 ore of mixed types (double in Fel), not counting an additional 25 per elemental encountered. And, even if the spot is currently iron-only base, you can elevate it to Dull Copper or Shadow Iron (whichever you currently need more). I personally compiled such a book from a couple of old ore book sets from before the randomization, but these days I mostly mine in Ilshenar because I like chasing after Paragon Ore Elementals (or in the case of paragon ValoriteEles, them chasing me...).
 
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popps

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Great Guide ! Thanks !

Are there also Guides available for other Mineables like Sand, Granite, Gems and Niter deposits ?
 

Basara

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Only the existing mining FAQs, and they are a little out of date. I started working on replacements, then stopped hoping there would be changes that would actually warrant updating. So far, the majority of changes would be to note nerfs.
 

SGONZ1970

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That didn't help me any. I'm at 72.6 mining and still mining iron oar at what skill level do I Need to be at to mine dull copper and so on?
 

Petra Fyde

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That didn't help me any. I'm at 72.6 mining and still mining iron oar at what skill level do I Need to be at to mine dull copper and so on?
Are you on an EJ account? Dull copper has a chance of spawning at 65 skill, but EJ accounts can only get iron ore regardless of skill level.

Resource Harvesting Restrictions




-No 2x Felucca Bonus
-Only basic ore & wood
-No sand or stone
 
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